I stopped cashing in my UR points this year because I plan to likely app for a CSP in a few months. I mainly live in the Amex MR ecosystem, but the bonus on the CSP is pretty good and I'm not churning through welcome bonuses like I used to. I'm itching to get back on a plane to someplace awesome and I can combine UR and MR (and TY) points on some airlines.
Like I said, it's not for everyone. But if you take advantage of airline and hotel points transfers, you can get great value, especially on larger redemptions like flights on first and business class.
That said, the UR system has lately become one of the weaker programs for choice of airline and hotel partners.
@Anonymous wrote:From what I've gathered the big sizzle is / was some airlines and hotel chains would redeem your points at a significantly better redemption rate making the points worth significantly more than 1:1, it looks like a lot of those redemptions seem to be nerfed, I'm interested in the USB AR for a premium card due to the 3% on mobile wallet purchases and the travel credit so I would be applying for the csp for the great bonus not the csr, I guess I'm at a sticky point now where to go I do love traveling, and I'm just getting started with premium cards / rewards cards, and just don't know where to start (UR ecosystem, MR ecosystem, TYR ecosystem) I just know Amex is not good if you are international traveling because there seems to be virtually zero acceptance
It heps to specialize. I use my Amex cards to rack up points on regular purchases and then take my other cards when I travel.
@Anonymous wrote:From what I've gathered the big sizzle is / was some airlines and hotel chains would redeem your points at a significantly better redemption rate making the points worth significantly more than 1:1, it looks like a lot of those redemptions seem to be nerfed, I'm interested in the USB AR for a premium card due to the 3% on mobile wallet purchases and the travel credit so I would be applying for the csp for the great bonus not the csr, I guess I'm at a sticky point now where to go I do love traveling, and I'm just getting started with premium cards / rewards cards, and just don't know where to start (UR ecosystem, MR ecosystem, TYR ecosystem) I just know Amex is not good if you are international traveling because there seems to be virtually zero acceptance
I wouldn't say those redemptions are nerfed at all. Depending on the airline partner, the miles can be worth at least as much as the 50% bonus on the CSR's travel portal for economy travel and far more for business or first. As for hotels, there's still lots of opportunity there as well. I recently redeemed Marriott points at over 2 cents per point, so even a 1:1 transfer would have netted me around 7% back for restaurant and travel purchases on CSR or around 12% back for Freedom 5x categories had I done a transfer.
As for Amex, it really depends on where you are and where you are using the card. I did all of SUB spending for NFCU More Rewards Amex in the UK and Belgium, for example. Amex is fairly well accepted in Western Europe and Canada for example, unless you are off of the beaten path.
@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:I wouldn't say those redemptions are nerfed at all. Depending on the airline partner, the miles can be worth at least as much as the 50% bonus on the CSR's travel portal for economy travel and far more for business or first. As for hotels, there's still lots of opportunity there as well. I recently redeemed Marriott points at over 2 cents per point, so even a 1:1 transfer would have netted me around 7% back for restaurant and travel purchases on CSR or around 12% back for Freedom 5x categories had I done a transfer.
I think there is a feeling that, in general, award charts devalue over time, especially partner awards, so an award flight that used to cost X now costs say 1.5X. Of course, there are exceptions that move the other way. And moving to dynamic pricing can also increase the cost of the desirable awards
Definitely true, but it doesn't mean that transfers are necessarily "nerfed" and now worth "1:1" as OP stated. It's not like there was a golden age when CSR was introduced a few years ago where one could reliably get any economy ticket they wanted and end up using 10,000 URs for a $500 ticket. If air travel is the ultimate goal, one would have to work very hard to find a redemption value that is so low it is equal to 1 cent per UR, and even the floor of using the travel portal for 1.5 cpp will make a Trifecta/Quadfecta (or even just a CSR on its own if solely used for restaurant and travel spend) a better reward opportunity than a 2% cash back card, for example.